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by Kate Woodford

I recently published a blog post on the language that we use to describe the way things seem to be (Keeping Up Appearances). Today, I’m looking at a related subject – words that describe things that are definitely not what they seem to be.

Starting with a very useful adjective, things that are false are not real, but are made to look or seem real:

She was wearing false eyelashes.

He was charged with using a false passport.

Another important word in this area is the adjective fake. It is used negatively to describe something that is not real or not what it claims to be. The word phoney means the same:

They’re trained to spot fake documents.

I don’t trust that phoney smile of his.

‘Fake’ is also used without the negative meaning to describe something, often a material or a food, that is intended to be like something else. Two other words for this are faux (pronounced UK /fəʊ/ or US /foʊ/) and imitation:

I bought a fake fur jacket.

There’s a growing market for fake meat products.

They’re not real – they’re faux pearls.

Is that imitation leather, or the real thing?

Fake is also a noun and refers to a copy of a valuable item that is intended to deceive people into thinking it is real or original. Additionally, it is used for a person who deceives others by pretending to be something or someone that they are not:

Experts declared that the painting was a fake.

The so-called ‘psychic’ she had consulted turned out to be a fake.

A forgery, like a fake, is a copy of something that is intended to deceive people into thinking it is real or original. ‘Forgery’ is also the crime of making such illegal copies:

The signature was a forgery.

The painting turned out to be a forgery.

She was charged with forgery.

Meanwhile, goods that are counterfeit are made to look like the original of something, usually for dishonest, illegal purposes. ‘Counterfeit’ is also a noun:

They were arrested on suspicion of dealing in counterfeit goods.

They use a machine to detect counterfeits.

Pirated versions of goods have been illegally copied and sold. In informal English, a knock-off is a cheap (sometimes illegal) copy of a more expensive product:

This is where most of the pirated goods originate.

It’s not the real thing – it’s a cheap knock-off.

Of course, things that are deliberately made to look like other things can be perfectly innocent! A mock-up of something is a model or copy of it, sometimes the same size, that is used for showing how the real thing will look or operate. The phrasal verb mock something up is also used:

The architect showed us a mock-up of the building’s interior.

They’d mocked up the magazine cover.

A dummy is an object that appears to be real but is actually just a copy and cannot be used. It is used for the purposes of practice or demonstration.

It’s not a working TV – it’s just a dummy for the sales floor.

A reproduction is a copy of something, usually a piece of art or furniture, especially one that is made to be sold more cheaply and widely than the original:

The books feature new colour reproductions of the original illustrations.

He ran a business selling reproduction furniture.

That concludes my ‘fakes and forgeries’ post. I hope you enjoyed it and picked up one or two useful new words.